ICT and e-commerce in enterprises

Nearly one in two large enterprises uses artificial intelligence

Enterprises
Nearly one in two large enterprises uses artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence has picked up increasing speed in recent months, and in a short time has become accessible to everyone. In the business world, too, this breakthrough is clearly visible, as shown by the latest results of the survey on ICT usage and e-commerce in enterprises [1][2] carried out by Statbel, the Belgian statistical office.

In 2023, nearly one enterprise out of seven (13.8%) uses artificial intelligence (AI). Among enterprises with more than 250 employees, the ratio is even one in two (47.9%). The most commonly used AI technologies are the ones performing analysis of written language (6.0%), automating different workflows or assisting in decision making (5.1%) and machine learning, e.g. deep learning (4.8%).

In large enterprises (250 employees or more), AI is mostly used for automating different workflows or assisting in decision making (29.7%), machine learning (27.8%) and performing analysis of written language (22.8%).

Website and e-commerce

Almost nine enterprises out of ten have a website. For 71.2% of enterprises, the website contains a description of goods or services or a price list. While 27.2% of enterprises offer online ordering or booking service, only 14.9% offer tracking or provide the status of orders placed on the website. Furthermore, 9.9% have a chat service for customer support[3]. This proportion is 19.3% for enterprises with more than 250 employees.

26.5% of enterprises have received orders via websites or apps. 24.1% had web sales via their own websites or apps, 7.6% via an e-commerce marketplace and 5.2% via their own websites or apps and via an e-commerce marketplace.

One enterprise in two in the cloud

Half of enterprises buy cloud computing services on the Internet. This proportion is 88.2% for enterprises with more than 250 employees. 43.9% buy cloud computing services for the storage of files. This proportion is 82.4% for enterprises with more than 250 employees. 22.6% buy computing power to run software used by the enterprise. This proportion is 60.0% for enterprises with more than 250 employees. 32.3% buy hosting services for the enterprise's database(s) as cloud computing services. This proportion is 67.8% for enterprises with more than 250 employees.

Four enterprises out of five use social media (79.3%). 78.6% use social networks (e.g. Facebook, LinkedIn, Xing, Viadeo, Yammer, etc.), 14.8% use enterprise's blog or microblogs (e.g. Twitter, Present.ly, etc.) and 42.9% use multimedia content sharing websites or apps (e.g. Instagram, YouTube, Flickr, SlideShare, etc.). Among enterprises with more than 250 employees, 95.5% have a user profile on social media.


[1] Enterprises with at least 10 employees.

[2] Survey organised at European level based on Regulation (EC) No 808/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 April 2004 and on Regulation (EC) No 1006/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 September 2009.

[3] Chatbot, virtual agent or person replying to customers.

Computer equipment
Table
Content

The maximum download speed of the fastest internet connection

2023 Belgium Brussels Flanders Wallonia
less than 30 Mb/s 11.1% 10.0% 10.1% 13.5%
at least 30Mb/s but less than 100 Mb/s 21.2% 20.6% 19.6% 24.7%
at least 100 Mb/s but less than dan 500 Mb/s 33.3% 36.5% 33.4% 32.0%
at least 500 Mb/s but less than 1 Gb/s 16.6% 10.0% 17.5% 17.1%
at least 1 Gb/s 8.6% 14.1% 9.2% 5.3%
at least 30 Mb/s 79.7% 81.2% 79.7% 79.1%
at least 100 Mb/s 58.5% 60.6% 60.1% 54.4%

* The year 2022 is marked by a methodological change with the complete introduction of the concept of enterprise based on the groups of enterprises. This leads to a break in the series, which will be more or less pronounced according to the sector, depending on whether or not there is a significant number of groups in this sector. So the developments between 2021 and 2022 are a mix of natural growth in the economy and the decrease brought about by the aggregation of several legal units into a single enterprise. The results for 2022 have been revised on 7/12/2023.

Survey ICT and e-commerce in enterprises

Purpose and brief description

The purpose of the data collection on the use of information and communication technologies in enterprises in our country is to gain a better insight into the IT infrastructure of these enterprises and to be able to compare these statistical data at European level.

Furthermore, this survey is receiving a grant from Eurostat, the European statistical office.

Population

Enterprises belonging to sections B to N and P to S of the NACE rev.2.

Frequency

Annually

Size of the sample

Around 7,500 enterprises

Definitions

Broadband connection : fixed or mobile broadband connection to the Internet

Internet connection via DSL : Internet connection via ADSL

Employee computerised firm : Number of employees working in enterprises using computers

Employee per connected firm : Number of employees working in an enterprise with an Internet connection

Has a website : Has a website or a webportal

Has Internet access : Has Internet access Mobile connection: Mobile connection to the Internet (broadband or other).

Documents

Survey form

  • Survey form 2024 FR-NL.pdf
  • Survey form 2023 FR-NL.pdf
  • Survey form 2022 FR-NL.pdf
  • Survey form 2021 FR-NL.pdf
  • Survey form 2020 FR-NL.pdf
  • Survey form 2019 FR-NL.pdf

Metadata